I trust TPWD.. They do some really good work.. If they agreed to spraying it's for good reason..

Maybe it's time to form a group for Rayburn and do our own spraying. That way it can be monitored with oversight and better input from tpw/fisherman. We are in this to cut down on salvinia, not "spray as many areas as possible to get paid more".

So nobody is gonna want to hear this . . . (and be assured that I did not vote this way)

The previous administration did many great, common sense things.
One of the things was to roll back a bunch of dumb stuff in the Clean Water Act.
However, when you do that, you sometimes cut your own legs out for the rare occasions when you need them.

The current administration is more . . . lets just say open to big government and as such will likely re-instate those
provisions that allow citizens and environmental groups to take legal actions.

There are several environmental organizations who will benefit from this. (WaterKeeper Alliance, Warriors for Clean Water, etc. for example)

Texas anglers (Bass clubs, Tournament organizers, Weekend anglers, Kayak clubs, etc.) need to form a non-profit organization and seek out partnerships with these environmental groups. (believe it or not)
They'll need a war chest to fund the legal actions that will be needed.

. . . or we can just ignore it and be good little sheep.

John, how do we get hydrilla removed from the invasive species list?

Greetings all,

TPWD’s Inland Fisheries’ local fisheries management office and aquatic habitat enhancement office were made aware of the spraying by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) contractors at Monterrey boat ramp last Thursday. Todd Driscoll and I visited the area around midday on Thursday, via TPWD airboat. We did find salvinia mixed inside of the buck brush around the boat ramp. Since the buck brush is currently in leaf-off, no leaves, this herbicide treatment will not have any negative impact on the buck brush. Additionally, the use of Tribune (diquat dibromide), a contact herbicide, will only impact the area on which the herbicide lands. This is an EPA approved herbicide for use in aquatic environments (http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld9UM000.pdf).

TPWD’s Inland Fisheries local fisheries management office and aquatic habitat enhancement office will meet this week with the USACE and the Lower Neches Valley Authority (LNVA) to discuss the current vegetation management plan and suggest modifications that would maximize fish habitat while still achieving adequate control of giant salvinia. We’ll post more about the plan after the meeting.

I’ll address a few things from previous posts. First, both USACE and TPWD herbicide application contractors are contracted by hours not gallons. Additionally, both USACE and TPWD can modify contracts as needed. We pulled contractors off both Caddo Lake and Toledo Bend for a couple of months after the big freeze in January 2018 because there were few plants to treat and what was there was dying. Unfortunately, not all of it died as we still have salvinia in both lakes today. The rest will address questions and concerns regarding the Aquatic Vegetation Management in Texas: A Guidance Document (https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_pl_t3200_1066.pdf). This document is applicable to all public waters in the State of Texas. If the public has access to the water it is considered a public water, from the smallest of community fishing lakes to the largest reservoirs. Any vegetation management activities occurring on a public water body need to have an approved aquatic vegetation treatment proposal in place before conducting control activities. This includes all waters treated by TPWD or other government agencies. All herbicide-based proposals go through a two-step review process. The first review is conducted by TPWD’s fisheries management biologist overseeing the reservoir as well as the controlling authority for the water body. It is during this review that the proposal is approved, denied, or modified based on conformity with the state plan (the Guidance Document) and fisheries management objectives as well as reservoir operations conducted by the controlling authority. If approved, then the proposal is forwarded to individuals on the herbicide notification list (https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/environconcerns/nuisance_plants/notification_list.phtml). Herbicide activities may begin 14-days after these individuals are notified, typically by email now.

The state plan or Guidance Document was developed by TPWD in coordination with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ, previously TNRCC) and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). Regulations and rules pertaining to vegetation control in public waters can be found in Appendices A & B in the Guidance Document. TPWD is required to possess a pesticide discharge permit from the TCEQ and all TPWD employees that treat aquatic vegetation have a pesticide applicator’s license issued by the TDA. The contractors are required to be licensed by TDA as well.

Appendix A: https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_pl_t3200_1066_AppendixA.pdf
Appendix B: https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_pl_t3200_1066_AppendixB.pdf

As many of you have stated, it would be nice to have a biologist on each contracted spray boats but it’s not practical nor is it necessary all the time. TPWD’s Aquatic Habitat Enhancement team is comprised of six individuals and oversees the management of nuisance aquatic vegetation on over 50 public water bodies, covering the entire state. Many of the individuals on the contracted spray boats are conservation minded and are concerned about fisheries management, several of which have degrees in biology, ecology, and/or fisheries management.

I hope this answered a few questions or clarified a few things. As biologists, we understand how bad giant salvinia can be to a water body, but we also realize that eradication is impossible on many lakes and attempts to eradicate salvinia can destroy beneficial fish habitat and negatively impact fisheries. We appreciate your concerns on this matter, so please contact me if you have any further questions or feedback.

John Findeisen
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Inland Fisheries Division – Aquatic Habitat Enhancement Team Leader
900 CR 218
Brookeland, TX 75931
409-698-9121 ext 235
John.Findeisen@tpwd.texas.gov

Good response flippin, I've been thinking of how to word an email to John. Not to jump all over them but to explain that based on observations of fishermen it doesnt appear the management of spraying is close to up to par. Maybe we are talking different chemicals but many times these sprays do much more damage than to what they touch. Maybe due to over application of them. The fact about them being notified about the spraying and not knowing before hand says a lot. I do appreciate John coming on here to make a response but flippin asked a great question, how can anglers encourage better management and not eradication.

I will acknowledge that I've been one of the guys to jump all over them in the past. I'm very frustrated with their plan to stock 500 carp in Conroe over 10,000 sf of Hydrilla. Seems very excessive. Whether it is true or not, it feels like a substantial portion of our fishing license dollars are going to keeping our lakes 100% free of hydrilla, so some jackwagon doesn't foul the prop on his $150,000 wake boat, instead of ensuring that we have the best collection of fisheries in the world. Now I know that P&W stocks millions of fish each year, but if we had more and more productive habitat, they may not have to stock as frequently.

Ken Smith's interviews with Todd Driscoll made me realize that a lot of these biologists are anglers too. It's why they wanted to pursue their career path... So the question then becomes what do we as an angling community need to do to empower these guys do an incrementally better job at managing our fisheries. Do we need to do a better job of organizing and contacting our elected officials re: hydrilla not being classified as an invasive? Do we need to raise funds for a specific purpose? What can we do to keep grass in lakes like LBJ, at a reasonable level from a habitat standpoint, but ensure that it isn't choking off access to home owners' docks.